Excitement

State saves one million euros on children in 2025

It's now official. The state government's austerity measures are also hitting children and young people in difficult situations hard. Salzburg's FPÖ state councillor for social affairs informed providers of youth homes about the austerity measures amounting to one million euros. He reaped harsh criticism.

Care facilities such as children's and youth homes will have to reduce staff. The trade union for private employees (GPA) in Salzburg is currently warning of this. As has now become known, FPÖ state councillor for social affairs Christian Pewny has informed the providers of such facilities of impending cuts. The state councillor wrote: "In the area of child and youth welfare, it is necessary to realize savings totaling one million euros in 2025."

Critics: "This is irresponsible"
The trade union is fuming at the austerity measures. Salzburg's GPA managing director Michael Huber, who received such a letter, criticizes: "This savings policy is irresponsible. Children and young people who depend on professional care must not suffer as a result of political budget cuts." A number of employees in supervised youth facilities would lose their jobs due to the cuts. Those remaining would then often have to cover the extra work caused by the departures.

Daily rates reduced to just two percent
In concrete terms, the savings look like this: The state is only raising the daily rates by two percent this year. However, with an increase of 3.86 percent, almost twice as much would be necessary to continue financing personnel and material costs at the current level. The provincial council also addresses this difference in its letter. We are aware "that this can be a challenge", writes Christian Pewny to the providers. Hardly any consolation for the operators of the children's and youth centers: the letter states that the flat-rate adjustment of two percent means that the providers no longer have to calculate how high their cost increases will be.